Improvement in sounding-boards



L. CHASE. Sounding-Board.

No. 218,487. Patented Aug. 12,1879.

r: ffmiz. C WITNESSE= INVENTOQ: CMf/f 66%@ MQ. ff/@7. MM;

UNITED STATEs PATENT OEEIGE.

LORENZ() CHASE, OF PORTLAND,MAINE.

IMPROVEMENT IN SOUNDlNG-BCARDS.

Specification forming part oi' Letters Patent NO. 21 8,1187, dated August l2, 1879; application tiled March 26, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Bc it known that I, LORENZO CHAsE, of Portland, in the county of Cumberland and State ol" Maine, have invented a certain new and useful Reverberatory Chromatic Sound- Board 5 and l hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ot' the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part of this speciiication, in which- Figure l is a top-plan view of my invention. Fig. 2 is a bottom-plan view oi' the same. Fig. 3 is a viront-edge view of the same.

Same letters show like parts.

My invention relates to those parts ot' the music-producing mechanism of a piano or other musical instiuinent which qualify and control the power oithe sound produced, and consists in controlling the resonance of particular notes, by the means hereinafter described, to produce the exact kind, quantity, and quality of sound desired from each note or chord,connectin g such resonance intallibly with its own proper note or chord, thereby placing a power in the hands oi' the instrumentmaker that he has never before possessed.

My invention consists of the braces C C C C, the slots A A A A, the bridges G and G2, said bridges being divided by the transverse cuts bl, b2, D3, and b4, and the sound-boards pl and p2.

The braces C C C C serve, in the tirst iustance, to prevent the sound-board, to which they are attached, from splitting` or checking; and, secondly, they divide the sound-board into divisions or sections Dl D2 D3 Di, each oi" which sections has an independent vibration of itself, and is specially representative of a known group of sounds.

The slots A A A A, cut through the soundboard, render the sectional divisions D1 D21)3 D4 more iiexiblc, sensitive, and independently responsive, and they further control the instrument in this, that by enlarging` them the space in which they are cut is brought to the required tone.

In the drawings are shown the two bridges G and G2, G bcingattached to the upper soundboard, pl, and G2 passing through an orifice cut in the upper board of a size sutiicient to admit the bridge without there being contact between the upper sound-board and the bridge G2, which is att-ached to thelower sound-board, p2, both these bridges (or one, as shown) being divided between the chords by the transverse cuts b1 b2 b3 b4, in order to make them more flexible, and to correct the great degree of rigidity which is found to exist in bridges not so divided, and which is highlyinjurions to the tones oiVl the instrument.

I have discovered that the reverberation oi each sound produced by the chord of a piano, or other sound-producing mechanism in a musical instrument, is confined to its own special part ot' the instrument, and the mechanism herein described is intended to locate, aid, and qualify that reverberation, and to fully control it in every respect.

The manner ot using my invention may be described as follows, viz: Then the instrument is fully completed, as l have described, in all respects except attaching the braces and cutting the slots in the sound-board, the operator may first attach one of the braces C C C C temporarily at such a pointon the sound-board as his judgment and experience may dictate as inelosing the proper area. rllhen, by sounding the string and the inclosed space together, he will be able to determine whether he will need to inclose more or less space, and move the brace accordingly, remembering that by inelosing more space he will make his resonance lower, and by inelosing less space he can make it higher. Having brought the chord and the surface so inclosed nearly or quite in accord and true relation, he may affix the brace permanently to the setuid-board, and then, having preferably left the tone a little sharper than desired, he can correct any sharpness not desired by having the slots A A AA cut beside the braces, the larger slot giving the lower tone.

Those skilled in music and the manufacture and use of musical instruments will readily perceive that the different parts herein described as new, when used together, will produce a new effectviz., a special response to each sound produced by the sound-producing mechanism of an instrument, whether it be chords, reeds, or any other 5 and that the reverberation of such sounds may be controlled in the same manner however produced; and that radical changes might be made inv other parts of the instrument, and my devices will be operative notwithstanding such change.

I have introduced two sound-boards, p1 p2; but in case one only were used it might be treated in the manner I describe, and the loss of area, and consequent lessening of the power of the instrument, be the only result.

I am aware of Letters Patent issued to George Gaddick, March 10,1874, No. 148,410, piano sounding-boards, and to C. W. Vogel, February 3, 1874, No. 147,202, reed-organs; and I claim none of the devices therein described, as I do not claim any function of the space between the sounding-boards as a soundspace, as described by Caddick, or an air-space, as described by Vogel.

I wish to be specially understood that the placingof the sound-boards p1 and p2 one above the other is a mere matter of convenience of space, and not for the purpose of' in any way utilizing the inclosed space, and upon this distinction are founded claims Nos. 1 and 2 following.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The sound-board of a musical instrument, divided into sections by braces C C C C, crossing and being aixed to the board at right angles with its length, the sections having areas diering in size, and pierced by the slot-s A A A A through the sound-board, parallel with and near to the braces C G C C, to produce a -reverberatory chromatic sound-board, substantially as set forth.

2. The bridge or bridges of a musical instrument, divided by the spaces b1 b2 b3 b4, or their equivalents, in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

3. In a musical instrument, the combination of the sound-boards p1 and p2, bridges G1 and G2, braces C C C C, slots A A A A, and spaces h" h2 h3 h4, or their equivalents, in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

4. In a musical instrumenthavingtwo soundboards, placed one above the other, the combination, with the nether sound-board,p2, ofthebridge'Gz, passing through an orifice cut for the purpose in the upper sound-board, the bridge being serrated or notchedby the transverse cuts b1 b2 b3 b4, in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

LORENZO CHASE.

Witnesses:

D. W. SCRIBNER, MARY M. SGRIBNER. 

